Richard Linklater wrote and directed Netflix's popular new comedy movie, Hit Man, with Glen Powell taking the lead role of Gary Johnson, a college professor who moonlights for the New Orleans police department posing as a hitman, in order to catch would-be killers. It is loosely based on a true life story,

The movie was released on Netflix on June 7, 2024, and has become a massive hit on the streaming platform, with 10 million views in its first two days of release. It has also scored a staggering 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and has been well received by fans. Hit Man co-stars Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta and Sanjay Rao. As well as playing the protagonist in Hit Man, Glen Powell was also a co-writer on the hit movie.

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What is Hit Man about?

Gary Johnson is a college professor with a very interesting side hustle. He works for the New Orleans police department as a civilian helping out on certain investigations. However, when one of the police officers is unable to pose as a hitman to ensnare a potential murderer, Gary is thrust into action, and must pose as the hitman instead.

After a shaky start, Gary proves to be a natural at it, and a real asset to the police department. He takes on more and more cases, using a series of different disguised identities, with a high success rate. However, things soon become complicated when he is attracted to a particular suspect, called Madison Figueroa Masters, (Adria Arjona) who wants her controlling husband, Ray, murdered. Gary goes to meet Madison at a coffee shop under the assumed name of Ron. Gary decides to give Madison a way out of the situation, and this lands him in hot water with his employers, and leads to a very dangerous situation for them both, as they enter into a romantic entanglement.

How does Hit Man end?

Madison and Gary/Ron are out at a club, dancing the night away when they run into Madison's estranged husband, Ray, and it ends up with Ron pointing a gun at Madison's abusive ex. After this incident, things get even more complicated when Ray hires a hit man, (who ends up being Ron) to kill Madison. Ron warns Madison that she needs to skip town because Ray is planning on killing her. In a major plot twist, Ray gets killed, and the police suspect Madison of being involved in it.

Madison confesses to Ron that she murdered Ray, and this leads to him confessing that he isn’t actually a real hit man and his name is Gary, not Ron. Phil (Sanjay Rao) and Claudette (Retta), who work with Gary, are unaware of Gary's relationship with Madison, but unfortunately for Gary and Madison, undercover cop Jasper, (Austin Amelio) is fully aware of the situation and is making life difficult for the pair.

Gary is given the job of investigating Madison, as his alter ego, Ron, about Ray’s untimely death. In a clever scene, whilst wearing a wire, Gary uses notes on his phone to tell Madison that the police are listening in on what they are saying to each other, so they fake an argument, while Gary coaches her on what to say using the notes on his phone, to get the suspicion away from her as Ray's murderer.

Just when they think they have got the police off their backs, Jasper doesn't believe it and turns up at Madison's house, while Gary is there, and tries to blackmail the couple. However, Jasper begins feeling unwell and passes out on the floor. It is revealed that Madison has drugged him, and Gary puts a plastic bag over Jasper's head, which suffocates him to death, and Gary makes it look like Jasper overdosed on drugs.

In a time jump, Gary and Madison are living a new life together. Gary continues his job as a Philosophy professor, and gives a rousing speech to his students as they begin their exams..

Gary and Madison are married, and have a young daughter, and two dogs and appear to be living in suburban bliss. Their daughter asks them how they met, and they give her a toned down version of it, with Gary saying Madison made a new man out of him, and the movie ends with Gary eating 'good pie' after telling their daughter they met at the Please U café restaurant.

During the movie's credits, a collage of images of the real life Gary Johnson appears on-screen, after it reveals he was born in 1947 and died in 2022. The images show Gary as a Vietnam vet, college teacher, animal-loving Buddhist and, most importantly, an undercover agent with over 70 arrests under his belt. It also reveals that the murder of Jasper was made up for dramatic effect, and Johnson was responsible for zero murders during his extra-curricular career.

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